Breaking Monotony
by Socially Suicidal
Summary: Sometimes, even for a nerd like her, college life wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Well, in the classroom, that is. GaaSaku AU drabble


_Summary:_ Sometimes, even for a nerd like her, college life wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Well, in the classroom, that is. GaaSaku AU drabble

_Short Note:_ Just a short drabble I cooked up in efforts to get the juices flowing this morning. It came out a bit longer than anticipated. Why do I always write AU Gaara as a smoker?

Breaking Monotony

By Socially Suicidal

Disclaimer: I do _not_ own Naruto

Sighing, the pink haired student plopped her chin onto her palm as she stole yet another glance at the clock. It was unlike her to be wishing for the end of her class, she prided herself on being studious and the pleasure she took from learning, but today Sakura couldn't help but be anxious to get the hell out of there. Her teacher had gone off on one of his infamous tangents and her class, of course, was encouraging the time wasting by flowering him with questions and commentary on his less than appropriate recounts of his life.

How Jiraya became such a well esteemed professor was totally beyond her. Her bored emerald eyes slid their gaze to Naruto, down a few rows from her own seat, as he excitedly chatted with the older white haired man. Perhaps it was popularity among students. She had no idea.

Her eyes found the clock once more, against her will, and the urge to pound her head relentlessly against the table before her was never so strong. A little less than ten more minutes… ten more minutes to suffer through. She regretted her choice of jeans today, wanting nothing more than to curl up in her seat and at least be comfortable while she wished for death. The white washed denim fabric restraining her legs prevented such relief.

Her cell phone sat temptingly in her pocket, but her resolve against cell phone use in class was as strong as ever, leaving the pinkette totally and helplessly bored.

Besides, her phone could offer little entertainment; mindless games never interested her much and she couldn't think of even one person that communicating with would break her boredom.

Sakura turned her chin in her palm, deciding that attempting to find something interesting to look at through the huge windows of the classroom was worth the effort. But how interesting could a few squirrels be, anyway? The campus was lush with foliage and the woodland creatures associated with it, and the auburn shades of fall were of course a pleasurable spectacle, but the ordinary sights of Konoha did little to quench her thirst for captivation.

That is, until, widened emerald eyes fell across the form of a certain, rather interesting, individual.

One could almost miss him, the dark colors of his clothing fading in with tree bark, his rusty hair camouflaged among the leaves of similar color.

He was quite a sight for sore eyes standing outside the window leaning against one of the many trees on school grounds, taking a long drag of his cigarette.

Her eyes gluttonously drank him in. Tall and lean with faded gray jeans that hung loose off thin hips. A long narrow torso concealed under a worn black thermal long sleeved shirt. Strong shoulders branching into long arms, chiseled from long hours spent in the dojo training relentlessly day after day. Rough pale hands, coarse after two decades of struggle and violence.

Close enough for her to see his distinctly blank expression, he glared with his lips in a straight thin line, eyes narrowed slightly as they seemed to drink in humanity and disapprove of it.

Nothing in the past eighty five minutes or so had captured her devout attention quite like he could. But that was pretty normal. An average captivation. A familiar stranger. A very welcomed distraction.

She could go on, but mindless staring was so much more appealing.

The few people that didn't have morning classes strolled on passed as if he was invisible, but, she figured, this was his intention when he chose that particular tree to enjoy his dose of cancerous fumes. The branches began just above his head, rusty spikes brushing against them in the occasional autumn breeze. For a man so out of his natural element, he seemed particularly capable of blending into the foliage surrounding him. Nothing but a mid-morning shadow.

She knew she had been caught staring when his clear jade eyes shifted and his chin titled in her direction. Unabashedly, the more brazen side of her surfaced as she refused to look away. With a smirk, he was the one to break the contact.

Sakura was out of her seat, books clutched between her arms and chest as she dashed out of the room, before the bell signaling afternoon break could finish ringing. She walked briskly down the hallway and broke out into a slow jog as she pushed past the doors to the courtyard of the academic quad, eyes searching for a familiar figure under a familiar tree.

"In a rush?" A voice called out from behind her, halting her steps suddenly and causing her two notebooks to fall unceremoniously to the ground. A grunt that was some mocking form of laughter was hopelessly optimized by her villainous senses. They made the grating sound a harmonious one. Her brain informed her that it clearly was not. That particular organ went ignored, as it was wont to, in his presence at least.

Blushing, she stared down at her fallen books and tugged on the long sleeves of her beige cardigan as she stepped toward them, mumbling, "Not particularly."

Gaara was kneeling before her before she could process his movement, cigarette perched between pale lips as her notebooks were thrust into her unsuspecting hands. Blinking, she offered her hand to him but he stood up swiftly without utilizing her aid. "You're clumsy."

A vein popped out of her forehead, her hand falling to her side sharply and curling into a fist, "You're the one that startled me!"

The smirk that crept across the edges of his lips as he took a short drag told her he was purposely goading her. It did nothing to quell her rising irritation. "Then stop being so jumpy."

Her eye twitched as he turned away from her, walking away without gracing her ears with another arrogant comment. She called after him. "You should stop sneaking up on people!"

His response was a simple snort as he halted, tossing his finished cigarette on the ground and stepping on it. "When you stop staring at people."

Sakura's chin nearly unhinged from her jaw, shutting promptly when he glanced at her over his shoulder. "Or do you just stare at me?"

The arrogance of that man! How dare he assume such things? Of _course_ she stared at other people! What kind of question was that? He wasn't the only one she stared at, not by a long shot! She was about to verbalize that before she suddenly stopped herself, realizing how creepy any of those responses would have been. Grudgingly, she realized Gaara had won. Again.

He seemed to realize it to as he washed the many expressions the flitted across her face in a matter of seconds. The redhead began walking away from her once more.

Deflated, she jogged after him, walking along side of his long strides. "You're a real prick, you know that?"

More gruff sounds that shakily served as laughter.

"Yes, I do."

Sighing, she clutched her books with one arm and linked her other arm through his. "Let's go get lunch, I bet you haven't had anything but those damn cigarettes all day."

Gaara didn't deign her command with a response, leaning over to her and quickly pressing his mouth against the crown of her head in a manner that derided a kiss.

Sighing for the umpteenth time that morning, Sakura rationalized that if breaking the monotony meant getting riled up and mercilessly teased every once in a while (or more often than every once in a while), it was well worth it with the man walking next to her.


End file.
